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More than 400 cities in China are now awash in garbage, experts warned.

 

Swelling urban populations are blamed for the growth of garbage. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the proportion of urbanites in the country's total population rose from 30.9 percent in 1999 to 42.99 percent in 2005.

 

A total of 562 million people lived in cities last year. The heaps of garbage are a byproduct of China's rapid urbanization.

 

Experts estimate that two thirds of the country's 668 cities are now awash in trash.

 

An airborne remote-sensor detected more than 7,000 garbage dumps larger than 50 square meters in a city suburb.

 

Shanghai alone produces about 6 million tons of trash a year. With an area only 0.06 percent of the country's total territory, the city houses more than 19 million people, if migrant workers are included in the calculation.

 

In addition to domestic refuse, rapid economic growth has also brought more industrial waste. Statistics from the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) show that the country's total industrial solid waste soared from 784 million tons in 1999 to 1.34 billion tons in 2005.

 

Garbage treatment has long been a headache because of slow technological progress. China only has a few dozen garbage-fueled electricity generating plants in operation. In the west of the country, garbage is generally burnt.

 

Currently, 70 percent of China's garbage goes to landfill zones or is simply heaped in the open air, 20 percent is burnt or fermented as compost and 10 percent recycled.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2006)